The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands.
Parallel translations
- WEB The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- KJV The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- BSB The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- NASB The idols of the nations are nothing but silver and gold, The work of human hands.
- NLT The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The idols of the nations are merely silver and gold made by human hands, lifeless and powerless.
Overview
In sharp contrast to the living God who acts in history, the idols are nothing but crafted metal. The psalmist exposes the folly of worshiping objects that people themselves have manufactured. This polemic against idolatry calls every generation to worship the true Creator alone, who has made Himself known supremely in His Son.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Isa 37:19and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.
- Acts 17:29Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
- Jer 10:3–11For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
- Hab 2:18–19“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
- Isa 46:6–7Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down — yes, they worship.
- Isa 44:9–20Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
- Deut 4:28There you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
- Isa 40:19–20A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 135:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.